The On-Sky Performance of the LSST Camera CCD Array
Abstract
The focal plane of the LSST Camera contains 189 individual science CCDs, arranged into 21 raft tower modules, along with 4 wavefront and 8 guider CCDs located in 4 additional corner RTMs. Altogether, the LSST Camera CCDs compose the largest focal plane ever constructed. The LSST Camera is the primary instrument of Rubin Observatory, which will begin the Legacy Survey of Space and Time in 2026. In this paper, we describe the on-sky performance of the LSST Camera CCDs, from receipt at NSF/DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in May 2024 to on-sky observations during the first year of operations. We discuss the process to establish functionality of several CCDs which were affected by an electrical short and faulty analog-digital converter, optimizations of readout timing in response to changes in the survey strategy, and implementation of enhanced focal plane safety measures through an active clearing mechanism on the CCDs. Finally, we discuss sensor features observed on-sky, and global performance during the first year of operations. The operations to date of the LSST Camera CCDs have demonstrated the capability of performing a wide, fast, and deep optical imaging survey of the entire southern sky at the Rubin Observatory.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2606.31806,
title = {The On-Sky Performance of the LSST Camera CCD Array},
author = {Sean Patrick MacBride and Aaron Roodman and Stuart Marshall and Yousuke Utsumi and Kevin Fanning and John Banovetz and Theo Schutt and Alexander Broughton and Shuang Liang and Andrew P. Rasmussen and Pierre Antilogus and John Gregg Thayer and Homer Neal and Anthony S. Johnson and Pierre Astier and Seth W. Digel and Andrew Bradshaw and Johan Bregeon and James Chiang and Céline Combet and Guillaume Dargaud and Johnny H. Esteves and Marcelle Soares-Santos and Thibault Guillemin and Claire Juramy-Gilles and Craig S. Lage and Myriam Migliore and Daniel Polin and J. Anthony Tyson and Renee Nichols and Steven M. Ritz and Eli S. Rykoff and Adrian Shestakov and Adam Snyder and Max Turri and Duncan Wood and Travis Lange and Martin Nordby and Hannah Mary Margaret Pollek and Shawn Osier and Boyd Bowdish and Diane Hascall and Margaux Lopez and Scott P. Newbry and Juan Carlos Lazarte and Vincent Lee and Michael Silva and Dave Kiehl and Andrew Hau and Tom Nieland and Nico Linton and David Shelley and Yongqiang and Qiu and Mark Freytag and Stephen Cisneros and Chris Mendez and Stephen A. Tether and Alan M. Eisner and Dmitry Onoprienko and Owen Saxton and Kevin A. Reil and Vincent J. Riot and Justin Wolfe and Scott E. Winters and Brian J. Bauman and William Wahl and Paul O'Connor and Françoise Virieux and Alexandre Boucaud and Camille Parisel and Éric Aubourg and Eric Lagorio and Pierre Karst and Aurélien Marini and Didier Laporte and Francis Vezzu and Guillaume Daubard and Patrick Breugnon and Tim W. Bond and Eric Charles and Richard Dubois and Steven M. Kahn and Andrés A. Plazas Malagón and Rafe H. Schindler and Joanne Bogart and Hye Yun Park and Aurélien Barrau and Christopher Z. Waters and Merlin Fisher-Levine and Antoine Bernard and Mile Kusulja},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.31806},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
21 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to SPIE Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes XI 14157